Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Money - Phil's Personal Essay Assignment

“Money, it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.” – Pink Floyd

My life has been filled with education and experiences that have consistently put me in positions to learn about money. I don’t think that it’s because I sought them out, but rather that they were put there by fate. I don’t necessarily think I have had more opportunities to learn about money than the next person, but I have been able to develop a firm grasp on where the “rubber meets the road,” or perhaps more appropriately stated “where the money meets the wallet.”

The first time I heard the phrase “Do something that you love to do, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” it was spoken by my father when I went to him for advice while searching for a desired path in school. I pondered on this thought quite extensively, for my father didn’t love what he did. He had been working for the same company for the past twenty-five years, and didn’t enjoy it. He did it because that’s what he knew how to do, and it brought money home to his wife and five kids.

My father in law wasn’t much different. He placed a high value on having degrees, and received his masters degree while he was in his late forties and urged me to do the same, so I could, “Get a good job.” I guess he thought that a “good job” was one where you were paid a little bit above average, and again, not something that you loved to do. He had been working on the military base near his home town for the past twenty-some-odd years now, and didn’t enjoy his work either.

I’m different. I don’t know whether I am different by nature, or by choice. One thing I refuse to do is to spend the next twenty years in a profession that I may know, but don’t love. If you aren’t doing what you love to do, then why are you doing it? Providing for your family I believe is a responsibility first and foremost as a husband and father, but wouldn’t your children have a better life and role-model if they could look up to someone who was truly living their dreams?

I have spent the past several years earning income and working towards living my dream. Not just to put food on the table, which gratefully I have been able to do, but to also develop myself as a man whom my children and wife could look up to and say “I’m proud of Phillip because he is actually doing it.” I want to show my children that they can live their dreams.

For the past several years, I have been employed in multiple professions dealing with finance. I have had months where I have made over ten thousand dollars, and other months where I have made nothing. I know that no job, especially right now, is a stable job, unless you are earning income for your employer, whether that employer is yourself, or someone else.

Through these employers I have been taught about goals, dreams, work ethic, and what it takes to make it. Surprisingly enough, I knew the answer all along, WORK. Those who do the jobs that no one else is willing to do, will get paid more than those who aren’t willing to do them. Multiple people out there know how to make money, and will help you do it as well, but only if you are willing to do what is asked of you. I have come to realize this truth. Applying it, well, that’s another lesson I am slowly improving on. Some months I do what is required, what others won’t, and I get rewarded accordingly. Other times I feel entitled that what I am doing is enough, an more often than not, those are the months that I don’t earn anything.

Over many years now, I have focused my vision on that which I believe can offer my family an income which will put food on the table, but also in a field that I have grown to love so that, according to the quote by my father, I won’t have to work a day in my life. That field is sound. It has become a passion of mine, and I will not rest until I have made that field my own. Whether I accomplish that in the next few years through the help of professors and colleagues, or the next few decades of tireless effort pushed forward by nothing but me and my determination, my sights are set, and nothing can break my gaze.

3 comments:

Nicely put! Mat and I feel the same way about that! He doesn't want to be stuck somewhere just because it pays the bills (even if that is very important!) We are trying to find that for ourselves as well; being happy and being able to have the things we need. Right now, we are in the middle of that process. It is a long process! But in the end, I know we will be happier. Good job!

I admire you for going after your dreams and being that positive role model for you children...and for your friends! For the most part I love my job and I feel so fortunate to get to go to a job that I love every day. Nate is trying to find that job and niche that is perfect for him and it's harder than people think. Good job sticking with it and doing whatever it takes to make your dream a reality!!